Even through Manhattan and Annie Hall are considered to be two of his greatest works (Crimes and Misdemeanors usually comes in third place), I was surprised to discover that there were no posts concerning this topic. I'm I the only one who prefers this movie over Annie Hall?
shareYes, I think it is his very best film. He's at his best in all ways in this film.
shareI love Annie Hall, but Manhattan is Woody's masterpiece.
shareI know I'm in the minority on this but my favorite is Zelig.
shareI think that it is hard - and subjective - to say that any film is a directors "best." I love Manhattan, it never fails to take my breath away. I will say that I think this is the most visually beautiful film that Woody Allen has directed so far - kudos to Gordon Willis!
shareI definitely think that Manhattan is superior to Annie Hall in almost every way- I think he deserves the recognition and Oscar for this one as opposed to Annie Hall, though it is still a good (but not great) film.
My personal top 3:
1. Love and Death
2. Mighty Aphrodite
3. Manhattan
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Having just finished watching Manhattan and just before that Annie Hall I consider Manhattan the better movie by far.
Although both movies were swamped by Woody Allen, his multi-faceted obnoxious nature in Annie Hall could be spread over a number of characters in Manhattan. There were great scenes in Manhattan involving one character playing against the other; not predominantly Woody Allen and Diane Keaton as in Annie Hall. The more people involved in Manhattan allowed the well-written, mixed up plot to be spread around. In Annie Hall Woody relied a lot on talking to the camera which doesn't really go over very well. I found the whole juxtaposed nature of Manhattan very entertaining: his selfishness, Tracy's maturity, Mary's neurosis, Yale's hedonism, Jill's wit and Emily's innocence; they all fitted together in a odd but amusing way. There were some brilliant scenes like the book reading at the waterfront and the argument alongside the skeleton. There were even parts where Woody had to act surprised and out of control; like being dumped, the book and the possibility of a film - superb.
It seems Allen wanted to make a classic film-noir with the dialogue in the beginning and B&W medium. He seemed to be aiming for a grand ending too; something like Casablanca, but nowhere near as dramatic, just pathetic really. Woody Allen reminds me of George Costanza out of Seinfeld - a person you love to hate. The poor guy probably gets a lot of hate mail. Apparently Frank Sinatra wanted to break both of Woody Allen's legs. No wonder he didn't turn up to receive his Oscars?
Manhattan 7/10 Good (took 1 off for Woody Allen's nauseating nature)
Annie Hall 4/10 Nice try, but no cigar (bumped up to leave space underneath for rubbish too awful to watch)
Dude, how can you hate woody allen?
he's like that cute puppy that nobody can do anything but admire.
He is one of my favorite directors and yes, Manhattan will stand as his best work. I'm sorry you don't get the beauty of it. He wasn't aiming Casablanca, he didn't want it to end, it is like this is manhattan and here people will continue committing these mistakes, it will not end. And that is what makes this movie stand out, the beauty.
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Seeing you asked... it's not Woody Allen that I don't like; it's the irritating films he has written, directed and starred in. There are other films like his that I don't like either. Then there are some films that Allen has been involved in that I do like.
Other actors I can't stomach either are Groucho Marx and any of the three stooges. I did in my younger days; but then I liked Bugs Bunny too.
Perhaps in years to come when, as Allen would put it, I go bananas I'll enjoy his wit.
Sure, the actual story of Manhattan and Casablanca are different; but there are similarities in style typical of Allen's satire.
What have you got against Bugs Bunny?
Reality is the new fiction they say, truth is truer these days, truth is man-madeshare
Manhattan is absolute crap.
Not even close. He's done so many better movies than this one IMO. I just re-watched it today, expecting to love it and I was disappointed. it has it's moments, but overall it didn't deliver.
shareI adore Annie Hall, but this movie is his masterpiece.
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Agree with you there. Annie Hall is my second favorite.
"I'm a what?"
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